Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992 TAG: 9201100134
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN BUSINESS
Roanoke Gas users to get 17% refundRoanoke Gas Co. said Thursday its average residential customer will get an $11 refund on monthly bills for January, February and March. That amounts to 17 percent of the average residential bill of $64.70.
The Roanoke utility said its 42,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers will share a total refund of $2 million because of overcollection due to lower gas prices and a milder winter last year.
Refunds or additional charges may occur because rates are based partially on a purchased-gas adjustment clause allowing the utility to adjust for higher or lower prices of purchases from suppliers. The State Corporation Commission gives utilities a year to make such refunds.
Natural gas prices are expected to remain competitive and supplies are more than adequate, said Frank Farmer, Roanoke Gas president. The company decided to make an accelerated refund during the winter, he said.
Company and national statistics indicate record numbers of consumers are converting to natural gas, Farmer said. He called gas a "preferred energy source to reduce American dependence on foreign oil." - Staff report
EPA rejects Ethyl gasoline additive
RICHMOND - The federal Environmental Protection Agency has rejected Ethyl Corp.'s manganese-based gasoline additive for use in the United States.
The Richmond-based company said the additive, HiTEC 3000, would remove 1.7 billion pounds of pollutants annually by 1999 and save 30 million barrels of crude oil a year.
Some EPA officials have argued that it increases hydrocarbon emissions that create smog. - Associated Press
Bassett-Walker plans plant changes in N.C. MARTINSVILLE - Bassett-Walker Inc. will close one plant in North Carolina but open another elsewhere in the state, executives said.
The clothing maker announced plans to shut a Selma, N.C., plant in favor of a new facility in Kinston.
Martinsville-based Bassett-Walker has 12 plants in Virginia and North Carolina with 5,500 employees. It is a subsidiary of VF Corp., based in Wyomissing, Pa., and markets casual wear under the Lee brand.
The Kinston plant, scheduled to open early this year, will have more than 400 employees; the Selma plant, which has about 140 employees, will close March 8. - Associated Press
VHDA cuts 30-year fixed rate to 7.5%
The Virginia Housing Development Authority has cut its fixed interest rate on 30-year mortgage loans to 7.5 percent.
Thursday's reduction is the second in three months. The rate is the lowest VHDA has offered to qualified borrowers since the 1970s.
VHDA mortgages are available through participating financial institutions to qualified lower- and moderate-income buyers of first homes. The sales price cannot exceed $75,500.
A family financing a $50,000 mortgage at the new 7.5 percent rate would make monthly payments of $349.61 in principal and interest. The same loan at 9 percent would cost $402.31. - Staff report
Lillian Vernon to put telemarketing in Va.
VIRGINIA BEACH - Catalog merchant Lillian Vernon Corp. says it will relocate its New York telemarketing center to its main distribution center in Virginia Beach.
The facility is scheduled to open in late spring and is supposed to double the specialty catalog company's telemarketing capacity. Its 300 employees will take orders by telephone.
The company said Wednesday its earnings climbed in the third quarter by 31 percent compared to the same period a year ago, with net income of $7.6 million, or 82 cents a share. - Associated Press